Contracted To Love

Chapter 11

The next few weeks seemed to fly by a little too fast. First Andrea came home and then, after just three weeks, Michele took her to her preferred boarding school. She’d looked it up before and found out that Bloomtamam was like the Harvard of high schools. Very few people could ever qualify to study there. Leaving her child there was a bittersweet experience for Michelle but she took comfort in the fact that the school was just an hour away and with the resources between her and her husband, she would always be guaranteed to be at her daughter’s side in minutes, thanks to the Favre chopper fleet. She’d chosen to drive Andrea to the school. It was the only way she could be guaranteed to spend a little more time with her.

As she drove back home, Michelle couldn’t help but smile. Her heart was so full. She had her family back and every night she got to sleep next to the man who’d changed her life for the better. Her heart raced at the thought of seeing David again. They’d had to be a little more well behaved for the duration of Andrea’s stay but the only thing she could think about as she drove home was how she was going to drop his pants and take his girth and length into her mouth the second she saw him. She couldn’t wait to hear him moaning her name. Feel his hands all over her body, caressing her. Worshipping her. And then he would return the favor by eating her out, tasting her salty depths and making her moan his name out loud. She wanted him so much. The way her body lusted after him, no one would have believed that she and David had made love just that morning. Perhaps if he hadn’t had to go to the office he would have suggested they pull over and have a quick fu*k in the car, which would have been a lie. There was nothing quick about his fu*ks. It was always nice long strokes and sometimes quick short ones… and it wasn’t until she’d org*smed at least twice that he allowed himself to explode inside her.

Michelle felt so grateful about the past year. It had been so perfect that sometimes in the morning she felt fear washing over her. It was like she was always waiting for the other shoe to drop and she didn’t know if and when it was ever going to happen.

She was still deep in thought when her phone rang.

“Michelle Smith, hello?” she said as she gently adjusted her Bluetooth headset.

“Hey, it’s me.” It was her mother’s voice.

“Oh, hi mother. I just dropped Andrea off at her new school. I’m on my way back.”

“How far are you?” Marilyn asked and Michelle looked at her navigation.

“Maybe half an hour away. Why? Is everything okay?”

The silence from her mother had her worried.

“Mother, what is it?” Michelle asked, a little panicked.

“Taggert Favre just had a heart attack,” Marilyn said and Michelle slammed on the brakes. The car came to a screeching halt and she was panting. “He’s dead. Your husband needs you.”

Michelle’s lips were slightly parted but she couldn’t get a word out. She was speechless. This was it. Her fear had finally materialized. The other shoe had finally dropped.

*****

Ever since his father’s death, David found himself withdrawn. He wasn’t so sure what he was supposed to do. He tried spending as much time as he could with his mother, but after she made the decision to go on a cruise, he had no more reasons to go back to his family home.

“I think perhaps some time with a whole bunch of new people will get my mind off the fact that your father is no longer with us. With me,” she’d said in a soft voice.

“But you’re going to be all alone there,” David had said and his mother had shaken her head.

“No, Marilyn’s coming with me.” She smiled at her son. “I’ll be fine.”

David was not fine. Taking care of his mother had given him some sense of purpose, but now that she was no longer around, all he could do was wallow in his sadness. He couldn’t even handle being at work. The last thing he needed was a whole lot of people telling him how sorry they were for his loss. He always found that funny and somewhat ridiculous. You could lose your keys, maybe even lose money but a loved one? That was not loss. It had to be something greater. Something unexplainable. He was now the new CEO of the Favre empire. The business empire that he’d helped build. He finally had the job he’d been preparing for all his life but he couldn’t bear to show up at the office. It was too much for him. Besides, it wasn’t like the business needed him to be physically present so that everything could run smoothly because if that was the case, then he’d done a poor job at building his legacy.

So, he did the only thing he could do. He stayed home and caught up on three years’ worth of television shows and games.

Why do I need to go to the office?he wondered. It’s not like the company took time to honor the man whose name is on the building. They declared me CEO less than a week after his death. Maybe I’ll also be forgotten just as fast. Have I even done enough to be remembered by? Or are people only going to talk about the silly Favre boy who was talked into marriage just so he could secure his position as CEO?

The thoughts were driving him crazy, but he couldn’t stop them. The only way to dispel the thoughts was having a few glasses of scotch before he passed out. And that Tuesday afternoon wasn’t that different. He swallowed the Macallan in his hand in gulps before he passed out on the couch.

*****

Michelle chose to take some time off work after the death of her father-in-law. It wasn’t just because that was the right thing to do, but it was also the only thing she could do. Valeria was already doing so much and that was taking time away from her own family. Having lived that reality, Michelle wasn’t comfortable taking a mother away from her children. A wife away from her husband. David was her responsibility. She was going to take care of him. Sometimes she was scared that the only reason she wanted to be the one to take care of him was because she was falling for him. No, she was already madly in love with David Favre. It was hard for her to understand considering the fact that there was a time she could hardly stomach the idea of being in the same room as him let alone the same bed. But David had proven to be so much more than she ever thought possible. Maybe marrying for love was overrated. Maybe the women just needed to be partnered with just the right man and then everything would fall into place as it was supposed to. How else could she explain what had happened between her and David? But unfortunately for her, David had been different ever since the death of his father. And who could blame him? He’d just lost one of the most important people in his life.